Survival of the Persistent by Emma

Survival of the Persistent by Emma - May 2015 Scholarship Essay

Perhaps the most pressing and potent academic skill I have learned from my peers is the quality of persistence. According to Webster’s Dictionary, persistence is the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people. For the vast majority of individuals, high school is perceived, unfortunately, as one of the most difficult times of our lives. Not only are we striving to earn a 5.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and receive at 36 on our ACT, we are also trying to discover who we are as individuals. We are balancing college applications and scholarships, soccer and volleyball, student council and the debate team, all while trying to find out who we are as individuals and sleep at least eight hours a night. On top of all these pressures, attempting to beef up our resume to beat our future college competitors, we are also constantly being reminded that the real world is ten times as difficult and that, if we think our lives are hard right now, we are gravely mistaken.

We are children, thrown into a whirlwind of assignments and standardized tests, expected to do everything perfectly and never deviate from the path. But, eventually, the strain of perfection worms its way inside our innermost beings and we crack. Some are able to push through and continue on the path laid out for them by the higher authorities, others, however, end up beaten down alongside the path, watching the others pass them by. Hopelessness and despair set in because we are raised in a society that tells us that someone will always be better than us, that our goal is perfection but perfection doesn’t exist. We all know these individuals that roam the halls of our high schools, the dull, empty look in their eyes, the silence and the utter despair that seems to ooze out of their skin into the surrounding air. They are test-taking machines and assignment kings and queens. It is individuals like these who have inspired me with their endurance and taught me the true meaning of persistence. Why would one continue striving towards an unattainable goal? We live in a society in which 16 year old children joke about suicide during finals week. We live in a society where an individual would rather end their life than live imperfectly. We live in a society in which individuals joke about being hit by a car so they can pay for their college education. Why in our right minds would we continue going to school everyday knowing all of this?

It is our faith in ourselves that keeps us going. Because, although we know perfection does not exist, we still choose to believe that we can eventually, one day, reach the next best level. Yes, there may be individuals out there who are always better than you but that does not mean you stop trying. That does not mean you stop fighting to the best, on the contrary, you fight everyday to become better than someone else, better than yourself. Despite essentially being set up for failure, you shove your nose into the grindstone and you keep going, you keep striving for your goals.

In two days, my high school career will come to its end and I will move on to the next chapter of my life. I will meet many new challenges but, as they say, if you can survive high school, you can survive anything.